GWR Route: Moreton-in-Marsh to Stratford upon Avon
Tramway

The Moreton-in-Marsh to Stratford upon Avon Tramway some 16
miles long, authorised on 28 May 1821, was the first railway to be built in the
County of Warwickshire preceding the arrival of the Grand Junction Railway and
the London Birmingham Railway by some twelve years. However it was built as a
horse drawn tramway although it adopted the 4'-8½" gauge adopted by
Stephenson in the north east of England. It was promoted by the "Father of
Railways", William James of Henley-in-Arden, as part of an ambitious scheme to
link the Midlands with London via narrow boat to Stratford upon Avon, tramway
to Oxford and finally by barge down the Thames to London. William James did
anticipate that the tramway section would be worked by steam traction. However
this ambitious project was, as Colin Maggs states in his book, "before its
time" and only the route to Stratford upon Avon and one of the three planned
branches (to Shipston-on-Stour) was built. Goods traffic was conveyed by
licenced traders in their own wagons and who were also allowed to convey
passengers on payment of a further licence costing £12 per annum. The
branch to Shipston-on-Stour, authorised on 10th June 1833, was delayed because
the original powers expired before it could be built meaning it was not opened
until 11th February 1836. The arrival of the Oxford, Worcester and
Wolverhampton Railway (OW&WR) severed the terminal buildings from the
branch compelling the OW&WR to take out a perpetual lease from 1st May
1847. The line initially was still managed by the original officers of the
Tramway until 1851 when to reduce this unnecessary expense the OW&WR paid
them off.

Following this take over the OW&WR upgraded the whole
length of the Tramway Stratford upon Avon to accommodate main line wagons
albeit still horse drawn. This did not achieve the up lift in revenues
anticipated and in fact losses were considerably greater than previous. Any
possibility of the route to Stratford upon Avon becoming a financial success
disappeared in 1859 with the opening of the the OW&WR's Honeybourne to
Stratford upon Avon branch line. The tramway through service to Stratford upon
Avon was infrequently used although some sections of the line saw some use but
by 1904 it was no longer used. The track was lifted for scrap in 1918 as part
of wartime economy measures although it was not until 4th August 1926, a month
short of its centenary, that the line was officially abandoned by an Act of
Parliament. Following the GWR takeover of the OW&WR, in 1882 a short spur
at Longdon Road was constructed to enable through running to Shipston-on-Stour
to occur as prior to this date the junction for the branch to Shipston-on-Stour
faced Stratford upon Avon. This was part of the GWR's strategy to bring the
branch up to a standard sufficient to handle steam hauled traffic. Further
powers were sought after it found that the original 1833 Act forbade the use of
steam locomotives and it was not until 1st July 1889 that the line was
officially reopened with a service of four trains per day in each direction.
Passenger services ceased on 8th July 1929 whilst goods traffic continued until
2nd May 1960.

In the first few years substantial sums were necessary to
keep the tramway open, in particular the steep sided deep cuttings and high
embankments caused problems, but the income from tolls gradually exceeded this
expenditure, as indicated by the following table:

Year

Receipts

Expenditure

1827

£2,051/7s /4d

£2,408/11s /2d

1828

£2,840/10s/10d

£2,858/10s/9d

1829

£2,555/1s/5d

£1,788/4s/3d

1830

£3,222/19s/7d

£1,139/9s/5d

Unfortunately the expenditure figures exclude the interest
payments on loans and despite liquidating the simple contract debts with a 50%
payment, by the end of 1830 the company still owed £53,758 (including
£10,344 of accrued interest).